While we spend one third of our lives sleeping, we also spend one third of our lives dreaming. Additionally, we spend the same one-third of our lives forgetting, since over 95-percent of dreams are forgotten before we even get out of bed.
This is where Shadow comes in, a new app that is being crowdfunded on Kickstarter by Hunter Lee Soik, who hopes to create a global dream database, allowing us to tap into real-time dream records, which would create a new data set that, at this time, trails off with Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud.
Shadow works by using an escalating alarm clock that is meant to wake sleepers up in a sort of fuge state, keeping them awake to record their dream story by either typing or speaking as soon as they get up. If the user can't exactly recall their dream, Shadow will ask a series of questions to help jog their memory. Then, after enough data has been collected, users would be able to browse through it and make comparisons with dreams of people from other nationalities and demographics.
This is a pretty innovative idea, but I can see a few pitfalls already. Essentially a digital dream journal, the app doesn't exactly (if this is even possible) stimulate the human memory in a significant way, nor can it effectively tap into one's subconscious. Still, it's about as good as it's going to get right now, so if you're interested in the dreamworld, you can head on over to Shadow's Kickstarter, which has already raised $20,000 toward its $50,000 goal in just a few days, and give it a whirl.
[via Kickstarter]
